Enterprise resource planning - ERP market set for e-commerce

The traditional ‘big five’ Enterprise Resource Planning companies could soon become a thing of the past. Leading global IT adviser Dr Michael Hammer told the Deloitte Consulting ‘Maximising The Pay Off Of ERP’ conference in Brussels that there was an evolution towards a limited number of ERP offerers. The prediction follows the generally poor financial results posted by the big five companies, including Peoplesoft, SAP and Baan in 1999, due to early Y2K bug spend in previous years. Hammer said the number of ERP vendors was confusing for consumers – while several installations had failed to deliver measurable benefits. Deloitte Consulting has looked into the experiences companies have had since implementing the back office software, and has developed a ‘second wave’ initiative designed to give companies a return on their investment. ‘ERP is undergoing radical changes, moving away from Y2K towards e-commerce and data warehousing. In the past many installations have failed to deliver the expected business results. However these companies are now reappraising their investment to gain the full potential from their investment. ERP vendors will have to be flexible to deal with this change in attitude,’ added Hammer.